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Lightingbird · 05-29-2008, 01:18 AM

Hey all,

I have a question. Recently, I was considering getting a sprint wireless card and play for my laptop for when I am not at home. After looking at some pretty high plans, I was somewhat discouraged. Anyway, after talking with a friend who has a blackberry with ATT like myself, he showed me that he tethers his laptop and casually browses on his laptop while out on the go. So I looked into plans and was about to sign up and noticed a few things. The plans arent all that high but aren't cheap either. Since I use a Att Go plan, I'm not eliglible unless I upgrade. After discussing this with my friend, he alerted me that he has been tethering on his phone for some time but doesnt even have a tethering plan. Only a unlimited data plan like I have currently. So we did some playing around and I was able to connect with my 8300 and browse. I pulled up five pages. Freaked out and logged.

Heres my question.

Can I get in trouble for this? I would only be using it to browse, not on line gaming, downloading, or anything major. Its not like I'm not paying for unlimited data. I'm just not paying for the tethering. So anyone know?

Can I get in trouble for this?

gregie · 05-29-2008, 04:02 AM

from what i recall its against TOS to tether without a plan that allows it, tmobile is the most lenient where the regular 20 dollar email and web plan(best value in bb addons) allows for unlimited tethering without any problems

Dubdub · 05-29-2008, 07:32 AM

Using your BB on ATT to tether will be painfully slow - only slightly faster than dial-up - 50-125 kbps. Using a data card from either Verizon or Sprint will be much faster, somewhere between 400-900 kbps average. EVDO is much faster than EDGE.

Your friend might find a huge data bill real soon!

Lightingbird · 05-29-2008, 09:04 AM

Hmm interesting on the extra speed. I can't say I really care although. As long as it pulls up the pages. Dub, my friend has been doing it for a very long time with no extra bill. As a matter of fact, all of his coworkers do the same thing with no extra bill.

Dubdub · 05-29-2008, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightingbird

Hmm interesting on the extra speed. I can't say I really care although. As long as it pulls up the pages. Dub, my friend has been doing it for a very long time with no extra bill. As a matter of fact, all of his coworkers do the same thing with no extra bill.

They are lucky! According to ATT, you need a tether plan to do what they are doing. Are they all using ATT?

JGBerry · 05-29-2008, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dubdub

They are lucky! According to ATT, you need a tether plan to do what they are doing. Are they all using ATT?

you don't want to be laptop surfing on EDGE. it really is painfully slow. many websites won't even work as they will require a broadband internet connection and they will default you to a pathetic Basic HTML page.

EV-DO is 3G...

Lightingbird · 06-02-2008, 12:16 AM

Yes dub they are all on ATT. Some even ATT go accounts. Its not slow at all. The pages shoot up. So, can anyone give me some actual answers and not assumptions?

BubbaRob · 06-02-2008, 01:02 AM

If you choose to go with a mobile broadband card option there is a company out west (US) that uses Sprint service without the contract and at a cheaper price. I can give you the details if you like. Just thought I'd throw that out there if you were leaning towards another option. I maintain speeds of 800kbs-1MB/sec download consistently but I am close to a tower.

Rob

jsntrenkler · 06-02-2008, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightingbird

Yes dub they are all on ATT. Some even ATT go accounts. Its not slow at all. The pages shoot up. So, can anyone give me some actual answers and not assumptions?

How well do you trust your friends? That's how I would look at it. If you call AT&T I would guess they would tell you that you are not allowed to tether with your current plan. W ether or not you make the decision to do it without their permission is up to you. Is it possible that they will catch you and bill you for the data? YES ... Is it likely? ASK YOUR FRIENDS

dankarlinski · 06-02-2008, 07:53 AM

becareful with ATT they pull every penny out of you... i dont see wht difference it makes if you teather or not. you could use that data on your phone too.. and it s unlim so who cares... but id go with the card. the best way to go and it keeps ur berry free for phone calls n stuff too

Drewdatrip · 06-02-2008, 10:43 AM

OK ill clear this up for ya bud.
First off YES as you can see you CAN tether without the proper plan...however u are violating TOS, if they catch you they will term ur line at best, ie can ur service and u lose ur number and all credit you have on it...thats best case.
Worst case is they calculate all your usage on the web and charge your a cent per kilobyte
If u wanna tether u best get a plan, or be willing to lose it all for doing what ur doing and saving alot of cash

Drew

ukulele_ninja · 06-02-2008, 10:51 AM

Im agreeing with the OP on this one. I tethered with my ATT RAZR when I had it and they never once charged me for me for it. I used it for normal browsing, no downloading or anything so its unlikely they would ever notice a sudden influx in your usage. If they would ever ask, tell them you use Opera on your phone which uses more bandwidth anyway.

Drewdatrip · 06-02-2008, 11:02 AM

AT&T's 3G comes out on top in speed tests, will only get faster in 2009 - Engadget

Oh just and fyi about the speeds for the cards..ATT is now faster then Sprint

ukulele_ninja · 06-02-2008, 11:05 AM

For casual browsing, the tethered method is far fast enough. If you want to do heavy downloading or anything, then go the card route and spend the extra money.

itechgirl · 06-02-2008, 03:30 PM

Before reading this forum, I had never heard of tethering. What exactly is it?

absoluteevel · 06-02-2008, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itechgirl

Before reading this forum, I had never heard of tethering. What exactly is it?

Tethering is another way to say using your phone as a modem. An IP modem, but basically a modem.

absoluteevel · 06-02-2008, 03:37 PM

I would say that the best if you are a heavy data user would be to go with Sprint for mobile broadband. They have a "Friends and Family" kind of plan that is under $50 per month. Search Google for SERO (Sprint Employee Referral Offer) and you'll find several methods of gaining access to the plans.

djmonkey · 06-03-2008, 01:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BubbaRob

If you choose to go with a mobile broadband card option there is a company out west (US) that uses Sprint service without the contract and at a cheaper price. I can give you the details if you like. Just thought I'd throw that out there if you were leaning towards another option. I maintain speeds of 800kbs-1MB/sec download consistently but I am close to a tower.

Rob

Who is is the company out west that uses sprint network but offers cheaper service??

REIGN SS · 06-03-2008, 02:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drewdatrip

AT&T's 3G comes out on top in speed tests, will only get faster in 2009 - Engadget

Oh just and fyi about the speeds for the cards..ATT is now faster then Sprint

That is nice for there Data cards, but the BB don't support G3 now do they ;)

fonejunkie · 06-03-2008, 02:27 AM

One of the things that I find most interesting about this discussion is that many of you have your Blackberry PINs listed in your profiles... meaning that should someone from AT&T happen upon this thread, they have enough information to identify you (or your phone at least), and could therefore monitor your usage...

If you're going to try to beat the system, at least be somewhat clever about it... and delete your PINs from your profiles...

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Tethering but with no tethering plan question